{"id":64909,"date":"2009-08-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/wet-summer-drives-uri-plant-protection-clinic-to-record-year\/"},"modified":"2009-08-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-24T00:00:00","slug":"wet-summer-drives-uri-plant-protection-clinic-to-record-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2009\/08\/wet-summer-drives-uri-plant-protection-clinic-to-record-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Wet summer drives 溏心vlog免费B站 Plant Protection Clinic to record year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tHomeowners, landscapers, farmers seek help diagnosing plant diseases<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 24, 2009 \u2013 The topsy-turvy weather this summer has made Heather Faubert extremely popular among gardeners, landscapers and farmers in Rhode Island.

\nThat\u2019s because she runs the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Plant Protection Clinic, where she diagnoses the innumerable diseases, pests and other problems that southern New England plants battle each year. And the wet and cool summer has increased her workload tremendously.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI usually spend about one-quarter of my time working in the plant clinic, but this year it\u2019s more than half my time,\u201d said Faubert, sitting behind a microscope with plastic bags containing samples of diseased plants scattered around. \u201cI typically get about 300 samples per year to identify, but this year we\u2019re already about 100 ahead of that pace.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nEarlier in the season, the greatest concern among commercial growers of tomatoes and potatoes was late blight, the disease responsible for the Irish potato famine and which was found throughout the region this year. Faubert visited farmers, diagnosed affected plants, and discussed options for how to save their crops from the devastating disease.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cFor one grower it was too late and he had to plow under 40 acres of potatoes,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce it gets a foothold, it spreads quickly and there\u2019s not much you can do about it.\u201d

\nThe wet weather has been especially good for fungal diseases that prefer damp and cool conditions. But because each plant species tends to become infected by a different disease, it is increasingly challenging to diagnose every sample correctly. Faubert is particularly thankful that retired 溏心vlog免费B站 plant pathologist Noel Jackson visits the lab every week to help with especially difficult cases.<\/p>\n


\nHomeowners have brought samples to the lab from a wide variety of ornamental trees that are struggling to survive this year from such causes as powdery mildew on maple trees and spider mites on spruce trees.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m amazed at how varied the diseases are that we\u2019re finding,\u201d Faubert said. \u201cAlmost every week I\u2019m seeing things that I\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the biggest repeat problem Faubert has seen this year is a lichen that has been found on increasing numbers of trees.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cLichens don\u2019t harm trees, but they are found growing on trees that are sick for other reasons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\nThe one good news about this year\u2019s increase in plant diseases is that it has increased the visibility of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Plant Protection Clinic, enabling Faubert to assist more landscapers and commercial growers.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI absolutely love this job,\u201d Faubert said with enthusiasm. \u201cI\u2019m always learning something new every day, and I love working with the growers. I feel like I\u2019m helping them produce their crop.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThose seeking diagnosis of plant diseases and pests may deliver or mail samples to the 溏心vlog免费B站 Plant Protection Clinic at the Mallon Outreach Center, 3 East Alumni Ave., Kingston, RI 02881. Insects should be placed in a small container such as a prescription bottle and wrapped to protect it from breakage in the mail. Fresh plant specimens should be placed in a plastic bag and mailed in a padded mailer. Various stages of a plant\u2019s decline should be included (not just dead samples). A $10 fee per specimen must accompany all samples. For additional information, call 401-874-2900.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homeowners, landscapers, farmers seek help diagnosing plant diseases KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 24, 2009 \u2013 The topsy-turvy weather this summer has made Heather Faubert extremely popular among gardeners, landscapers and farmers in Rhode Island. That\u2019s because she runs the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Plant Protection Clinic, where she diagnoses the innumerable diseases, pests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}